


Hot and Cold

by HappinessIsBlau



Category: Batgirl (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 22:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappinessIsBlau/pseuds/HappinessIsBlau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>what have i done this is completely out of control</p><p>AND if you can guess the song that this fic was inspired by, i'll write you something!!! no i'm not just saying that i'm completely serious. there are lines and stuff that are fairly obviously referencing the song if you know it. That's also why the fic bounces around quite a bit and why the chapters aren't exactly "related"; they're smooshed together because they were all inspired by the same song.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> what have i done this is completely out of control
> 
> AND if you can guess the song that this fic was inspired by, i'll write you something!!! no i'm not just saying that i'm completely serious. there are lines and stuff that are fairly obviously referencing the song if you know it. That's also why the fic bounces around quite a bit and why the chapters aren't exactly "related"; they're smooshed together because they were all inspired by the same song.

“Are you ready for another bad poem?” Stephanie asked, nudging the tights-clad supersidekick beside her. Tim shrugged, answering, “Alright, fine! Let me have it,” before Steph giggled and pulled out the ruffled up piece of paper from one eggplant-colored pair of cargo pants and she leaned back on the swing that she was sitting on, hearing the chains creak in protest and she put one of her hands on her swollen tummy and huffed. Tim just smiled a bit in response to her exasperation; he thanked the heavens that he didn’t have to deal with the actual side effects of pregnancy like Stephanie did, but he still tried to help her through it as best as he could and the only way that he could think of being able to do so would be to hang out with her in the park on lonely nights that she couldn’t sleep.

He zoned out though, as she read something important to her, something she put her heart and soul into (as she always did with the things she made or did) and fell back into thoughts of the two of them putting themselves in the line of danger, her as Spoiler, and he as Robin. As always. All she knew him as was Robin, but he knew everything about her and she was great and wonderful and beautiful and glowing and he could get lost in those eyes, did they have a bit of purple in them too, or was that just the color of her pants bouncing off of her eyes—“…remember me as I was, not as I am. What do you think of that one, Robs?”

Tim panicked for a second, his eyes flickering away from hers now that she was looking directly at him and not the piece of paper that she’d been reading from. After a moment, he realized that she’d been waiting for a response. “It was, uh, awesome…” “Wow, thanks,” Stephanie mumbled sarcastically, “what an amazing compliment, Boy wonder.”

Sirens could always be heard in the distance if you were in Gotham city, but rarely in the outskirts. However, tonight, a fire truck and several ambulances passed right by the park that Stephanie and Tim found themselves in, so with a kiss planted on the cheek of his lovely and 7-months-pregnant girlfriend, Robin went to fulfill his solo-night-patrol duties.

Fires weren’t Tim’s favorite thing to help with, that was for sure. There’s only so much that nylon and Kevlar could keep away and heat was not one of those things. At least he’d had to deal with bigger fires before this one, so he hoped that it wouldn’t pose too much of a challenge. “There’s live Kerosene in there, kid, according to one of the neighbors” one of the Firefighters told Tim as he approached the scene, “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.” For a moment, just a moment, Tim wished that his conscience would let him just turn on his heels and stomp back to his car and go to Stephanie’s house and knock on her door with a bunch of Purple-dipped roses and chocolates and a tub of Blueberry Cheesecake icecream from that little dairy that she loved so much and he could take off his mask and kiss her and before he knew it, Tim was in the middle of the burning house.

He could hear someone, or something, making some sort of distressed whining noise. Letting instinct lead him to the source, Tim found a decorated bedroom on the second floor. Huddled in the corner, next to a window that was wide open, was a little girl clinging to a stuffed cat in one hand the leash of what looked like a seeing-eye dog in the other. The dog, a golden retriever, was whining desperately and pushing at the girl with its nose, but the scared girl wouldn’t budge.

“Hey there, what’s your name?” Tim started off with the basics as he gazed out the window at how far of a drop it would be from their current location. The girl didn’t speak, but the dog barked at Tim and pulled at its leash, in another attempt to rescue its owner from the current situation. Tim patted the dog on the head quickly and picked the girl up, who squealed in protest and kicked furiously. Of course. Making sure that the stuffed kitty was tucked securely under his arm along with the girl, Tim picked up the dog in the other arm and turned towards the direction of the stairs, estimating that to be the quickest exit.

It took all of thirty seconds to get out the front door, just as the staircase collapsed behind them. A waiting mother in a bathrobe took her daughter in her shaking hands, and Tim handed over the leash to a relieved father. “You have a really great dog, you know,” Tim couldn’t help but comment as a Firefighter patted him a bit roughly on the back, “she was trying to get your daughter out of the fire the entire time.”

“They don’t speak English, son,” one of the Firefighters commented from behind him and Tim just shrugged; he assumed that his message had come across loud and clear. “Oh, I almost forgot. Here you go!” and with that, Robin handed the little girl her stuffed cat and turned around, ready to make a quick exit.

A smiling, very pregnant girl in purple waved from the crowd of people that had gathered on the lawn of the couple, and gave the superteen a wink and pointed discreetly towards a patch of trees across the street. Tim got the hint and after the crowd had cleared a bit, he snuck his way over to where Steph was waiting for him. “Sorry I had to leave so suddenly—“Don’t apologize, Robsies. I get it. You have to do what you have to do and all, right? I’ve been there and done that, don’t forget. I haven’t been out of commission that long.”

“Right, right. Sorry,” “How’d you learn how to do that, anyway? Did Batman give you a Powerpoint presentation on it or something?” and Steph laughed at her own joke for a minute, though Tim didn’t really get the humor in it. It wasn’t exactly a powerpoint presentation, rather it was an extremely painful practice try on a bunch of ikea shelves used for purposes not quite intended and lit on fire, but a powerpoint probably would have been a lot less work. He’d have to think about suggesting one to Bruce during their next training. For all of the seriousness Batman was, he’d like the irony. Tim made a mental note not to say it was Steph’s idea, though.

“Nevermind about that, I thought you’d go home or something. It’s dangerous around here alone—“Oh, don’t patronize me, Wonderboy. I know all that and even though I’m fat and gross, I can still kick ass if someone bothers me,” and Steph was indignant now. Nice job, Robin.

“That’s not what I’m saying. I just… urgh.” “I get it, I get it. Cool your jets, okay?” and in a moment, Stephanie went from sulking to smiling. Damn it. “I appreciate it that you’re worried about me, but seriously. Don’t. I’m a big girl, or else I couldn’t be fifty pounds heavier and about to pop like a balloon, right? That’s what my dad said when my mom wrote to him. He was like, ‘Oh, Stephanie’s a big girl and takes after her dad by being sexually active and shit, man I was a stud, don’t let her get fat.’ And you know, if it was up to me, I wouldn’t have told him. But whatever. Just come here and let me kiss you, okay?”


	2. Chapter 2

He bit his lip, and not in a nervous sort of way but in a “well, shit, I’ve got to stay awake or else I’ll probably die and I really don’t want to,” sort of way. Tim certainly wasn’t Bruce and he  _certainly_ didn’t have a deathwish. Well, there’d been times, but not today. He’d said sarcastically to Spoil— _BATGIRL_ now, it was Batgirl, he’d said sarcastically to Batgirl, “I’ll check in tomorrow if I don’t wake up dead,” and she just snorted at him and threw a half-eaten waffle in his direction. Now he was eating his words unlike the waffle, which he promptly threw away.

A bit of sarcasm was foreign to him after all these years. How long had it been since they’d first met? Five years? Yeah, somewhere around there. However, now wasn’t the time for nostalgically remembering the first girl whose boob he really got a handful of.

Being in a life-threatening situation was no different than usual, Red Robin reminded himself as he forced himself awake. Maybe that’s why he’d regained a certain bad habit of letting his mind wander, which wasn’t a good idea right now, especially if he’d been repeatedly beaten and waterboarded once or twice in the last few hours, including right now. Biting down especially hard on his tongue until he tasted iron was the best technique that Tim had found for staying awake, but why’d he keep thinking of her?

It certainly wasn’t because they were still involved because that ended a while ago. Or the fire was never rekindled or whatever dumb metaphor that anyone would want to use; when she’d “come back from the dead” he refused to start things up with her again. Tim still loved her. That wasn’t ever a question, because from the moment that it was confirmed that she was indeed still alive, he’d kissed her like he’d never kissed anyone since before she’d died.

It wasn’t that he thought he could do better – he knew it could never, ever get any better than her. He’d basically forfeited his only hope at a real relationship when he’d said that he was done and he could accept the forever bachelor thing like Dick and Bruce had. It didn’t seem so bad, really, and he could always  _try_  but no woman would ever understand him like Steph did because she was  _devoted_  to not only him but to their cause and that was rare. Most kids would join up with, say, the Teen Titans because they thought it’d be fun. Those who joined ended up leaving quickly, more often than not, because of the dangers and the work involved. Those who stayed were truly special, especially since even veterans had been leaving.

Like him.

Tim didn’t see the eggplant and black clad blonde girl (the one who people had said was just “That one Wayne kid’s arm candy, but if he wanted some kind of blonde bimbo, he could have done much better” Oh, if only they’d known) kick the guy who’d been holding him underwater but he’d felt familiar hands pull him from his uncomfortable face-down position after just a moment and untie his hands and hold him as he coughed and choked up one and a half minutes worth of water in his lungs.

That didn’t stop him from, after a minute of composing himself, running out of there. No strategic fallback, no; just inarticulate, miserable, tail-between-your-legs running. His rescuer seemed just fine with that, especially when the building behind them exploded in a more-than-clichéd way just as soon as they reached their exit, throwing both Tim and his knight-in-shining-armor face first into the snow.

“Jeez, are you okay? Damn, I’m getting too old to be thrown around like that…” And it was little surprise that the person who’d saved his ass was that same girl that he’d just been thinking about and her name was Stephanie Brown. Tim was angry about the fact that it was her coming to his rescue. He was angry about it in the worst kind of way.

\--

“Aren’t you going to say something? Not a thank you, at least? Come on, Tim,” she teased, patting his back and adjusting the small electric heater that was sitting beside them, “it’s been two hours and an Alfred-applied checkup and you still haven’t said anything and it is making me nervous! Don’t make me beg, Tim. You don’t want to see me get down on my knees, this suit will probably ride up and give me a wedgie and we both know how uncool it looks in this material—“Just shut up, okay? Thanks. You didn’t have to save me. I’d have managed to get out of it.”

“Sure you would have. You were doing  _so_  well without me, right?” Stephanie was now pouting, and while thinking up a good reply, Tim went into yet another coughing fit. Stephanie took the opportunity to pull off his still-waterlogged mask off of his face and comb his bangs out of his face with her fingers. “You need a haircut, you know,” she mumbled and patted him on the shoulder, sitting down next to him and all of the affection that she was showing was basically making his heart beat in reverse. What should he say? What should he DO? He didn’t mind but they weren’t a thing anymore, damn it!

“Steph, don’t—“ Tim, I’m not trying to seduce you. I’m trying to make sure that you don’t get a cold or some sort of dumb Red Robin version of a cold and God knows what that even means… just. Shut up and let me be your friend.”

“Tim,” Steph sighed after an awkward silence and absentmindedly adjusting her sleeves, and he stopped and looked at her, hard. “I thought you wanted to help, so help,” he motioned his rather stubborn kneepad that just wouldn’t unbuckle from his uniform. Steph kept a grim expression as she unbuckled it from him, feeling quite awkward. “I’m sorry—“No. I’m sorry. We’re friends. We are. I’m just an asshole sometimes, that’s all,” Tim leaned back a bit, closing his eyes, “I feel like I’m just a lonelier version of… I just… urgh. I just don’t know where it all went wrong.”

“You say some mysterious things sometimes, you know that? Well, as for me, I’m not lonely. I have friends, you know, like you and Kara. And you have more friends than you can count, stupid. But I think that if we’re talking about where it went wrong, denying my roots and faking being dead was probably the start of it. Tim, I’m sorry—I’m so sorry. I can’t stress it enough, but it helped me become a better person. I’m a better person because of it and I think… besides everything that happened, it helped you grow, too.”

It was dumb, trying to cover her own shame with words, even if she believed what she was saying. It was obvious that he knew just what she was doing, but he nodded. It was better than getting into the depths of things right now. They’d never be like they were five years ago but maybe that was a good thing.

And Steph did make a damn good hero, even if she needed to learn how to talk less and say more.

 


	3. Chapter 3

It was really hot and that was probably because it was in the middle of the desert. They couldn’t be farther away from Gotham City at this point, but this church was a little white paradise on the edge of a sea of sand. Okay, little might be an understatement; it was more like a large community building with a few farms and houses and tiny stores that had sprung up around the church. Tim mentioned something about it being burned down a few years ago, and that would explain why it looked significantly nicer than the other buildings in the town, but Stephanie had seen slums while living in Gotham, obviously, so it wasn’t much of a shock to her. 

The man who was driving them to the outskirts of the town was singing a song in another language that was coming in on a static-filled radio and she wasn’t quite sure how he could understand the words. Practice, maybe. Probably. It seemed sad from the way he was singing it, or maybe he was just off key… or maybe something that he used to know, if the station ever came in correctly, or maybe something that reminded him of days gone by. Tim could be bitter about the past at times, so Steph piped up. “So, what’re we doing here, again?” 

Sighing, Tim cracked his knuckles and pulled out his tablet, pulling some important looking graphs that looked like something Stephanie had dreaded dealing with in Algebra class in highschool. “This place is at a high risk for fires, like I told you about the church earlier today. It has the same general concentration of elements in the sand and air as the other parts of the desert, except for one, and it isn’t naturally found…” on Earth, was what Tim wanted to say, but his Wayne Enterprises façade was in place and Timothy Wayne didn’t know nothin’ about no aliens, “ …around here. Bruce wants to see if he should…” be worried and take care of it in one way or another, “ …invest some money into harvesting it.”

“Ey, I hope your dad gets a cleanup crew. He’s gonna need one because there’s got to be a goldmine of it the way that Mrs. McMiller’s rosebushes went up the other day… oh and Rich Schnyder’s fields, too,” the driver laughed, turning up his garbly radio station. Tim leaned closer to Stephanie. “The village also has an unnaturally high amount of vegetation for the desert, which doesn’t make sense. We’re not sure what to think about that,” “Maybe they just have green thumbs?” Stephanie supplied, which Tim immediately dismissed. 

“There’s a lot of birds around here,” Stephanie announced as they came to a stop in front of a still-smoking pile of rubble that apparently used to be Mrs. McMiller’s house and rosebushes that they had been told about. “And how long has this fire been out?” The driver thought for a moment, before answering, “About a week, maybe ten days at the most.” A several ravens flew over the fire, and over their heads, before swaying as if drunk and landing, dead, with a thud on the ground several yards away. 

“Ew, oh, gross!” Steph mumbled as Tim slipped her an evidence bag. That was her cue to go over and put a dead bird carcass into it, right? More like hell no. Okay, more like an unenthusiastic “if you say so.” 

“Don’t worry,” Tim nodded at the driver, “one way or another, we'll figure how to help you out.”


End file.
